USC basketball: NCAA reaction to Trojans' self-imposed sanctions

The sanctions follow the university's investigation into allegations Mayo received improper benefits while in school.

The basketball program's self-imposed punishment suggested that USC knew the NCAA was about to take action, said the director of a compliance department at a major university familiar with such investigations.

"If they're doing all that, they know something's coming," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They know they're going to have their day in front of the [NCAA's] committee on infractions, and they're preparing."

The NCAA has a history of giving credit to schools that self-impose sanctions, but the organization nonetheless could hand down further penalties

The NCAA does not comment on current or ongoing investigations, but gave The Times this statement today:

“We expect all of our member schools to make sure they’re complying with the standards they created with NCAA guidelines," said NCAA spokesperson Cameron Schuh. "By USC looking into it and coming up with (these sanctions), we would expect (that).”